Welcome back to Tidings, our newsletter sampling some of the best links shared each week on Seabird from around the web. We want to know what you're reading too. Have you come across a great story? A niche publication that deserves wider recognition? Share it on Seabird! On to this week's links...

​The battle for the soul of lockpicking​

Enthusiasts of "locksport" are divided over questions like whether it's OK to stream yourself picking locks actually in use by strangers.

Huck | Jack Dennison-Thompson

​Cascade of life​

As we begin glimpsing signs of fall in the Pacific Northwest, check out these excerpts from a new illustrated guide to the wilds of Cascadia.

Orion | Emile Poole

​This is the biggest obstacle to new cancer cures​

How regulatory red tape raises the cost of drug trials and emerging personalized medicine. [Gift link.]

The New York Times | Ruxandra Teslo

​After work, we'll have each other​

On work, aristocrats, chimpanzees, and what to expect if the AI boosters are right about its effects on labor.

Asterisk | Clara Collier

​This is really bad​

From kill switches to corporate death penalty, ideas for regulating rogue AI. [Gift link.]

The New York Times | Stephen Witt

​We can't let AI writing take over the internet​

An interview with the founder of the internet's leading AI writing detection firm.

Derek Thompson

​The unique horrors of A.I. food slop​

"A menu promising a glistening digital cheesesteak or an eerily geometrical turkey club evokes little more than horror in those who behold it."

The New Yorker | Brady Brickner-Wood

​El Niño is now stronger than at any point in the last 1,000 years​

Studies of coral suggest that climate change is driving greater swings in El Niño.

Ars Technica | Jacek Krywko

​The WNBA Changed. Cathy Engelbert Didn’t.​

On what the WNBA needs from its next commissioner in an era of growth and culture war tumult.

The Ringer | Seerat Sohi

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​Canada is fighting back against US tariffs​

From Seabirder Janet Bufton: "Canadians have decided, it seems, that we won’t go quietly. The trade war has morphed, in some ways, into an information war."

CapX | Janet Bufton

​The game theory of a trade war​

And if you find yourself trapped in a trade war, you can look to England and the Hanseatic League for insight.

Bug-Eyed and Shameless | Justin Ling

​The American prison experiment​

Looking back on more than 200 years of changing American prisons, from Eastern State Penitentiary to Little Scandinavia.

Reason | C.J. Ciaramella

​Will Taiwan just give up?​

Grim reporting from Taiwan on its prospects for sustained independence. [Gift link.]

The Atlantic | Simon Shuster

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​Elena Ferrante and the people who vouched for her​

Who is the real Ferrante? Even the most advanced textual analysis leaves room for ambiguity.

Strange Clarity | Laura Cecile Moore

​‘Why not try to be the best in the world, just for the fun of it?’​

An interview with Art Garfunkel, musical partner to Paul Simon and math instructor to a handful of students in Connecticut.

The Guardian | Dave Simpson

​American Muslims are giving Texas barbecue a halal makeover​

"They say, 'Oh, Muslims don't integrate, they stay alone, they don't help society and all this stuff.' And it's like, I'm sitting here contributing to the most well-known cuisine of Texas."

NPR | Ulaa Kuziez

​There's a legal fight brewing at Oktoberfest​

When it comes to getting a new beer into Munich's Oktoberfest, "One drinker’s tradition is another’s cartel." [Gift link.]

The Wall Street Journal | Patience Haggin

​Actually, dining side-by-side in restaurants is good​

In defense of enjoying the restaurant experience right next to your dining partner.

Eater | Francky Knapp

​Oregon’s Dark Horse​

In Oregon news, how an indie comics company shaped the suburb of Milwaukie.

OPB | Holly Bartholomew

​Justice for pigeons!​

Finally, in bird news... how to co-exist with the birds we humans unintentionally bound to our cities.

The European Correspondent | Eliška Volencová

Tidings is edited by Jacob Grier. The links in our newsletter were all shared first on Seabird, our minimalist platform simply designed for recommending worthwhile links. Learn more about us here and join to discover and share articles like these every day. Your recommendations may appear in a future edition of Tidings.